Under 2 weeks until the footy starts - your mood and thoughts?

[WA Tiger]

I was looking froward to us having a really good start to the year by flogging and undermanned Carlton team. Now with Johnson, Cog's, Cotch, Floey and a few other injuries I am not so sure they are more undermenned than us. Not writing the season off but I thought we would have gone into round one stronger.

[mightytiges]

The Blues won't have Stevens or Carrazzo and we didn't have Cotch, Cogs and Cousins last year in round 1 when we won.

[WA Tiger]

Yeah but Judd was only about 70% and we also had Petts and Johnson in and now with Floey maybe out it really evens up but more so in their favour for mine. Cuz will be great but not at 100% until about round 5 IMO.

[mightytiges]

Yeah but Judd was only about 70% and we also had Petts and Johnson in and now with Floey maybe out it really evens up but more so in their favour for mine. Cuz will be great but not at 100% until about round 5 IMO.

That's true WAT and it is a 50/50 game but all I'm really trying to say is I hope we have more depth this year to cover injuries rather than the club using Foley's absence if he does miss as an excuse for a loss.

The Bookies sure have Carlton favourites - Richmond $2.25 to Carlton $1.60  .

[WA Tiger]

The bookies always start the tankers as favourites against us.

[mightytiges]

The bookies always start the tankers as favourites against us.

Luxbet is meant to be on our side lol.

[mat073]

I know he is just a kid ....but when Cotchin is back in the side I will feel a lot more confident about things.

[blaisee]

I feel locked and loaded

[wayne]

A little nervous.

A lot of people expect us to make finals. I am one of them.

I would like to see us in round 18 or 19 be locked in the eight. I am sick of always waiting till last rounds and relying on other teams to do us a favour.

[mightytiges]

I would like to see us in round 18 or 19 be locked in the eight. I am sick of always waiting till last rounds and relying on other teams to do us a favour.

I wonder if Richo will again kick 6 behinds straight before slotting the winning goal in the last minute and sealing our finals spot like in 2001 against North .

[Ramps]

The Blues won't have Stevens or Carrazzo and we didn't have Cotch, Cogs and Cousins last year in round 1 when we won.

If Fevola plays good we're in trouble, if we hold him we win ... the injuries to both sides have ruled out any advantage. Itll simply come down to what the key forwards do on the day IMHO and Fevola is the best key forward of those playing, we have to stop him.

[mightytiges]

If Fevola plays good we're in trouble, if we hold him we win ... the injuries to both sides have ruled out any advantage. Itll simply come down to what the key forwards do on the day IMHO and Fevola is the best key forward of those playing, we have to stop him.

Yep they go to Fev 75% of the time so they are predictable. If there's enough pressure on the delivery from their midfield and someone floating in the space in front of Fev then that should do it. The problem last year in the centenary game was we got spanked out of the centre after half-time and especially in the last quarter and the ball was coming down into our backline under no pressure. Oh and of course we need to kick straight when it's our go up forward  .

[Hellenic Tiger]

I feel even if Fev kicks four or five the Scumbuckets can still get beaten.
Last year Fev kicked 4 in the Centennary Game with 3 coming in the last quarter well after the momentum and the match had slipped from our grasp. Until then Kel had done a good job on him and it was the Blues free running midfield that gave Fev the opportunity to kick 3 in the last quarter through no fault of Kel.

For me the midfield is the key. If we can stifle them in midfield we'll win. Our backline KPP'S are better than Carlton's and if we can get more of the footy we'll successfully expose this and put the Filth to the sword.

[wayne]

Fev kicked 99 last year (4.5 goals a game) and they finished 11th.

He's going to need to average 9 goals a game for the Blues to challenge for a flag.

Like Tuckerbag said, the key is the midfield battle.